Under Reykjavik (short story)

Under Reykjavik
Main character(s):	Romana II
Featuring:	Magnus Greel
Main setting:	Reykjavik, 51st century
Key crew
Writer:	Warren Ellis with thanks to Matt Ginn
Illustrator:	Paul Vyse
Release details
Printed in:	DWM 174
Release date:	16 May 1991
Cover date:	12 June 1991
Brief Encounter
← Previous	A Victorian Interlude
Next →	Mistaken Identity

Under Reykjavik was a Brief Encounter short story published in Doctor Who Magazine 174. It acts as a prequel to The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

Summary

While the Fourth Doctor is asleep, Romana II busies herself updating some of the TARDIS' burnt-out units by jacking in a G129AT ordnance unit. Unfortunately, the TARDIS lands in the bunker of Magnus Greel beneath the Supreme Alliance fortress in Iceland and the doors won't close. Romana apologises for the interruption and the sound of the TARDIS' cloister bells ringing out — the TARDIS believing it is under attack by the Pus Creatures of Rakos — and casually chats away to Magnus. She mentions time travel and debunks Dr Findecker's work on "double nexus particles", starting Magnus thinking about the real possibility of time travel. This is further fed when Romana, having fixed the TARDIS with one of the Doctor's old tie-pins, leaves him with a business card for an excellent plastic surgeon in 1998. As soon as she has left, Magnus is on the videophone to Findecker... the 1890s sound interesting!

Characters

• Romana II
• Magnus Greel

References

• Greel worries that the Filipino rebels might penetrate the bunker.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• The war criminal Magnus Greel first appeared in the 1890s in TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
• The Cloister bells were a TARDIS warning system that rang out when the TARDIS was under an extreme threat, first introduced in TV: Logopolis.
• During his fifth incarnation, the Doctor and his companions Nyssa, Tegan Jovanka and Turlough would later encounter Magnus Greel in Peking, China and Reykjavik, Iceland in the 51st century. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane)

External links

• Under Reykjavik at the Doctor Who Reference Guide